“HIS DESIRE TO SUCCEED IS UNBELIEVABLE”
20 JAMES RYAN
Age 22 (24 June 1996) Position Lock
JAMES RYAN has just completed his second season as a Test player. In his brief career as a professional at the top level, he has won a Grand Slam, a Champions Cup and two Pro14 titles. He has gone to Australia and won a series – the first time an Ireland side has achieved that feat since long before he was born. He has played New Zealand once and has beaten them once.
James Ryan is 22 years old. To put this into some sort of context, Paul O’Connell, the player that many think Ryan will emulate on the world stage, only made his international debut at 22. He had to wait four years before he won a European Cup and seven years before he won a Grand Slam. He played New Zealand nine times and lost nine times.
Different eras, of course. O’Connell was born into a Munster and Ireland team that hadn’t yet found their way. Ryan has walked into a winning machine, particularly with Leinster, and has made it better. His transformation from gangly kid to totem of club and country has been as swift as it has been remarkable.
He is a product of St Michael’s College, a veritable conveyor belt of top-class rugby players. Andy Skehan is director of rugby at the school. “We always suspected that James was going to have an outstanding career as a professional rugby player, but did we think he’d go so far so quickly? I’m not sure we did. We always felt pretty sure he’d get to the very top, but he’s got there in the blink of an eye,” he says.
“His determination is phenomenal. He’s got the strongest will to succeed of any player I’ve ever coached. Dan Leavy had it and plenty of others had it, but James’s desire to succeed was unbelievable and he could apply that desire on such a consistent basis.”
At Michael’s they remember the Senior Cup final victory against Newbridge. Ryan was captain, the type of captain that doesn’t scream or shout or attempt to inspire through the weight of his own personality. He was quieter, more measured. He gave detailed one-on-one analysis to players. He gave factual information and clarity. During that final he tore his medial ligament, not that anybody knew it at the time.
He played on, making big cover tackles and stealing key lineout ball towards the end of the game. He spent the next few weeks on crutches. People still talk about that at the school. It’s gone down in legend, to an extent.
“I first saw him at Clontarf and he was a string bean, skinny and tall,” says Cian Healy. “When you see him stepping up to the plate it’s jaw-dropping. It’s, ‘Hold on a second, he doesn’t look like he can do what he’s doing’.”
